BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday there is “no military solution” to the Ukraine conflict after President Petro Poroshenko asked for NATO naval support in his country’s standoff with Russia. Blaming Russia for the tensions, Merkel said: “We ask the Ukrainian side too to be sensible because we know that we can only solve things through being reasonable and through dialogue because there is no military solution to these disputes”. Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships on Sunday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in…

The five members of the family left their home in The Hague after learning that their asylum claim was rejected. They took refuge in a church on October 25. The church took advantage of a Dutch law which prohibits police entering the church during an ongoing religious service. Since then more than 500 pastors have already enrolled in the church to keep the service running.

Protesters, angry about rising taxes, piled up large plywood planks and other material in the middle of a street near the Arc de Triomphe, and set the debris on fire. Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to try to push back the protesters. Some demonstrators responded by throwing large rocks.

Amid protest against a proposed refinery in Maharashtra involving India, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the Gulf nation’s envoy to India Ahmed Albanna said the state government will allocate land in coming weeks.